Pasco County Building 13 Miles of New Sidewalks Near 19 Schools This Year

Pasco County is putting in nearly 13 miles of new sidewalks this school year to close dangerous gaps in the walking routes around 19 schools, with crews starting on some of the riskiest stretches in Wesley Chapel.

County Engineering Manager Beau Thompson said the county mapped every school and looked at a two-mile radius around each one, the same distance that determines whether a student gets a school bus seat. Where sidewalks simply stopped or never existed, those became the priority.

"We started looking at sidewalks within the two-mile radius of schools to connect sidewalks and fill those missing connections," Thompson said.

The push traces back to 2022, when Pasco schools eliminated courtesy busing for students who live within two miles of their school. That left thousands of families to walk, bike or drive kids who previously had a bus seat, often along roads never built with foot traffic in mind. County Commissioner Seth Weightman said that shift is what drove the county to chase funding for sidewalks aggressively.

"Since 2022, we've captured over $22 million in federal, state, and Penny for Pasco dollars for our safe routes to schools funding," Weightman said. "We've worked with our partners at the Pasco school district and they've provided us a list of their most dangerous routes to school."

Wesley Chapel first in line

School officials say the area around Wesley Chapel Elementary remains one of the more dangerous stretches for students who walk or bike, and it's among the first places seeing new sidewalk this school year. The county is adding 12.79 miles of sidewalk in total across the 19 school areas.

Erica Galloway, a parent of children who attend a local school, said getting kids to and from campus safely is the top concern for families in her situation.

"Kids are the most important thing we have of course, and we want to keep them all safe," Galloway said. "It's nice that the county is realizing some things that need to be improved to make sure our kids get to school and get home safely back to their families."

More than a school commute

Weightman said the benefit extends beyond drop-off and pick-up times. Filling in sidewalk gaps also gives residents in those neighborhoods a safer place to walk, run or take the dog out, on streets where people currently have to share the shoulder with cars.

"We're filling those gaps in and it's going to be a great benefit to everyone who travels," Weightman said. "Not just to school, but for folks who live in the area and want to get out and exercise or walk their dog."

The county has not released a full school-by-school timeline for when each stretch of sidewalk will be finished. Thompson's team continues to work through the list the school district provided, ranked by how dangerous each route is, with more segments expected to break ground as the school year continues.

Want to weigh in on where the county should build sidewalks next? Join the conversation in our Community Forum, and find more coverage on Pasco County Community Website or our Facebook page. For more stories like this one, visit our education news section.